1. Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to liquid handling and more particularly to a liquid class predictor for liquid handling of complex mixtures.
2. State of Technology
United States Patent Application No. 2002/0076818 by Andrew R. Vessey, Gregory L. Porter, and Peter T. Siesel, titled “System and Method for Liquid Handling Parameters Optimization,” published Jun. 20, 2002, provides the following state of technology information: “Liquid-handling equipment has always been important to biomedical research and life science applications. Pipettes need to be accurate and resist contamination, but still work quickly and efficiently in repetitive procedures. Although pipettes remain a key component of experimental protocols, new types of large-scale research require more automation and miniaturization in liquid handling capabilities. The Human Genome Project and combinatorial chemistry experiments are sending new chemical compounds into the drug discovery and development pipeline. There is an increasing need to handle larger numbers of compounds dissolved in liquids and a diversity of assays to adequately measure them. Pharmaceutical firms need to be able to accelerate the screening of chemical compounds for potential drug activity, such as enzyme-inhibition or receptor binding. The liquid-handling needs of pharmaceutical companies include diluting and moving test samples from plate to plate. Small amounts of samples need to be transferred to secondary plates that contain as little as one μl or less of liquid, and then conduct biochemical assays. The trend in drug discovery research is to screen compounds using 384-well plates. Pipettes have evolved to diverse devices that may be electronic, multi-channel, automated or robotic. They are typically slender and light, have thermal insulation, preset volumes, built-in tip ejectors, and mechanisms to program the devices to repeatedly deliver the same volume. Robotic systems perform the highly repetitive task of liquid handling and can be programmed to pipette, dilute, dispense, heat, cool, wash plates, and transfer liquids. Robotic systems also provide an audit trail, tracking and recording every step of the process. One of the most important benefits of automated liquid-handling is the precision and reproducibility of assays. The automated liquid-handling equipment today can be better utilized by applying Design of Experiments (DOE) techniques.”